ITHANET disease research portal launched

European researchers and health IT specialists have launched a new disease research portal designed to support research and provide easier communication of breaking news and events about disease.

Online seminars and video webcasts are among the online resources provided on portal, together with video-conferencing tools.

The portal is part of a wider effort by the EU-funded ITHANET project, linking together European and Mediterranean countries, which uses electronic infrastructures to encourage collaboration between countries when tracking, treating and researching common disease.

The ITHANET project involved specialists from 26 organisations across 16 different countries including Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey. The project aims to reduce the duplication made by national authorities in different countries where information regarding disease is not shared between them.

As part of the project experts from every European country where thalaseeaemias blood disorders, were common were gathered to share information.

The specialists have increased coordination of their efforts and pooled their knowledge using e-infrastructures such as different communication tools, databases, grids and web portals.

Carsten Lederer, a researcher for ITHANET project, said: “Haemoglobin disorders are common, potentially lethal, diseases posing a global health challenge.”

Lederer said electronic infrastructure tools were essential for the collection of data, dissemination of knowledge, harmonisation of treatment and coordination of research.

Lederer added: “Initially, we wanted to use an excellent, open source platform for our primary network, and for videoconferencing, but it required some technical knowledge and setting up at each site [but without the right IT support] it was not practicable,"

Eventually though the researchers moved to a proprietary, more expensive, videoconferencing solution, which partially tackled the bandwidth issues.

The team have also set up courses and seminars using live webcasts and streaming video, where participants could pose questions in real time, during the live sessions, or via a blog after the streaming sessions. .

As well as the portal, the project has also resulted in a wiki and database which will integrate all the data, terminology, protocols and guidelines to identify and treat particular instances of thalassaemias and possibly other diseases.

Lederer said: “We really learned a lot during the project. One time we got all the experts together to discuss the way forward, and talk quickly went from e-Infrastructure to all sorts of different research projects they could set up.”

The ITHANET project received funding from the Sixth Framework Programme for electronic infrastructure development and is now maintained with funding from the Research Promotion Foundation of Cyprus.

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